The message in this scholarly-yet-accessible book is Austen’s relevance to men — which Deresiewicz addresses both from his own point of view (at times, self-effacingly) and those of well-known writers. After reading “Emma,” he writes, “... my life began to acquire a sense of weight I had never experienced before. It was like one of those astounding moments when you look around at the world and really see it for the first time …”

Claire Harman examines Austen’s life and enduring cultural influence from a different perspective in “Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World” (Picador, 320 pp., $16 paperback). Highly readable and often amusing, her combination of careful research and cogent observations more than answer the question: Why, nearly 200 years after her death, does Austen still matter?

Committed Janeites, however, will tell you the various annotated versions of Austen’s novels provide the richest understanding of her work. Among the most recent is “Persuasion: An Annotated Edition” (Belknap Press, 360 pp., $35), edited by Robert Morrison, a handsome, color-illustrated, coffee-table-size book that addresses everything from 18th century societal mores and conversational style to historical context. The annotations are conveniently located alongside the text.

Less showy (but cheaper) is “The Annotated Sense and Sensibility” (Anchor Books, 784 pp., $16.95 paperback), edited by David M. Shapard. Fewer illustrations, all black-and-white, but it nicely annotates what arguably is the most romantic of Austen’s stories.

These days, however, more Austen-inspired books fit into the fiction category, many incorporating Austen-era situations and dialogue in original stories, or in what might loosely be termed “sequels.”

The latest is “Jane Austen Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature’s Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart” (Ballantine, 464 pp., $15 paperback), some 22 short stories edited by Laurel Ann Nattress. To give you an idea of the variety, there is Beth Pattillo’s short sojourn through Austen’s London on the arm of an unlikely Mr. Darcy, Jo Beverly’s very in-character Christmas yarn and an over-the-top ghost story by Laura Willig.

Some fiction deliberately compromises Austen’s celebrated storytelling for a few cheap thrills. One such entry is Annabella Bloom’s version of “Pride and Prejudice” (Adams Media, 478 pages, $12.95 paperback).

While Bloom is far from the first to pen a “wild and wanton” rendering of Austen’s best-loved work, she may be the first to have simply inserted her own passages into Austen’s original work. You can’t miss these add-ins, as they appear in bold type. You also can’t miss how ill-suited they are to both the spirit and essence of Austen’s writing.